Collaborative Research: Conference: 2024 Aspiring PIs in Secure and Trustworthy Cyberspace

安全可靠的网络空间计划（SaTC）是NSF支持计算机安全和隐私研究的首要计划。新的首席研究人员，我们称之为有抱负的pi，经常发现撰写他们的第一个成功的SaTC资助提案是令人生畏和困难的。该项目资助了一个为期1.5天的研讨会，以支持这些有抱负的私人投资机构准备有竞争力的SaTC资助提案。研讨会的目标是为有抱负的项目策划人提供指导和直接的建议反馈，这些建议可以是他们的第一次提交尝试，也可以是对先前被拒绝的提案的修订。该研讨会的新颖之处在于它与导师就他们的研究计划进行一对一的会谈，参与模拟美国国家科学基金会绩效评估过程的模拟小组，以及制定研究执行摘要。总之，这些活动旨在帮助有抱负的pi制定引人注目和全面的研究计划。研讨会更广泛的意义和重要性在于，这些活动将更好地装备来自各种机构和背景的有抱负的pi，以撰写具有竞争力的SaTC提案，更好地反映国家研究人员及其想法的广度。撰写一份成功的融资提案通常需要大量关于社区期望和规范的隐性知识。有经验的项目负责人（也就是那些曾经得到过资助的人）和他们的同事利用过去审查提案的经验，以及与同行讨论的“民间知识”。缺乏这方面经验的有抱负的pi通常在竞争激烈的融资过程中获得的成功程度较低，即使他们的智力想法可能与有经验的pi相匹配或超过。值得注意的是，经验丰富的pi更有可能在已经获得NSF慷慨支持的大型大学工作，成为现有专业网络的一部分，并且来自相同的学术血统。有抱负的私家侦探研讨会旨在确保有抱负的私家侦探关于改善国家安全和隐私的想法与有经验的私家侦探的想法更公平地竞争。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The Secure and Trustworthy Cyberspace program (SaTC) is the premiere NSF program for supporting research in computer security and privacy. New principal investigators, whom we term aspiring PIs, often find writing their first successful SaTC funding proposal intimidating and difficult. This project funds a 1.5 day workshop to support these aspiring PIs in preparing competitive SaTC funding proposals. The workshop's goals are to provide mentorship and direct feedback to aspiring PIs on their proposals, which can represent either their first submission attempt or a revision of a previously declined proposal. The workshop's novelties are its one-on-one meetings with mentors about their research plans, participation in mock panels that simulate the NSF's merit review process, and the development of a research executive summary. Together, these activities are designed to help aspiring PIs develop compelling and comprehensive research plans. The workshop's broader significance and importance are the impact these activities will have on better equipping aspiring PIs from a range of institutions and backgrounds to write competitive SaTC proposals, better reflecting the breadth of the nation's researchers and their ideas.Writing a successful funding proposal often requires substantial implicit knowledge about community expectations and norms. Experienced PIs (i.e., those who have previously been funded) and their colleagues draw on past experiences having proposals reviewed, as well as "folk knowledge" from discussions with their peers. Aspiring PIs who lack this experience typically experience lower levels of success in the competitive funding process even though their intellectual ideas might match or exceed those of experienced PIs. Notably, experienced PIs are more likely to work at large universities that already receive generous NSF support, be part of existing professional networks, and come from the same academic lineages. The aspiring PI workshop aims to ensure that aspiring PIs' ideas about improving the nation's security and privacy are on a more level playing field with experienced PIs' ideas.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.